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Mussels, oysters and scallops have the highest levels of microplastic contamination among seafood, a new study reveals.
The research - led by researchers at Hull York Medical School and the University of Hull - looked at more than 50 studies between 2014 and 2020 to investigate the levels of microplastic contamination globally in fish and shellfish.
Scientists are still trying to understand the health implications for humans consuming fish and shellfish contaminated with these tiny particles of waste plastic, which finds its ways into waterways and oceans through waste mismanagement.
Study author, Evangelos Danopoulos, a postgraduate student at Hull York Medical School said: No-one yet fully understands the full impact of microplastics on the human body, but early evidence from other studies suggest they do cause harm.
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Based on the seafood consumption of the average person in the UK, the analysis concludes we could be eating up to 12,915 pieces of plastic in molluscs such as mussels, clams, cockles and oysters each year.
We could also be consuming up to 30,788 microplastics in crustaceans such as crabs and shrimp, and up to 24,563 from fish.
That adds up to a maximum of 68,266 pieces of plastic per person per year, on top of the plastic known to be consumed from foods such as sugar and salt, and from bottled water.
Mussels were found to contain an average of around 0.7 tiny pieces of plastic per gram (stock)
Mussels, oysters and scallops most susceptible to microplastic
Someone eating the average British person s intake of seafood would ingest more than 68,000 microplastics per year
Oysters in Apalachicola, Florida
Credit: Phil Sears /AP Photo
Molluscs and shellfish have the highest levels of microplastics in seafood, a study has found.
Researchers at at Hull York Medical School and the University of Hull found up to 10.5 pieces of microplastic per gram of oysters, mussels and scallops, with the highest concentrations in those collected off the coast of Asia.
Up to 8.6 microplastics per gram were found in crustaceans and up to 2.9 in fish, said the study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
December 21, 2020
Don’t let the cold keep you from working out outdoors. The sunlight can help boost vitamin D levels.
Rob and Julia Campbell/Stocksy
Wondering how you’re going to keep your spirits up when the sun sets in the middle of the afternoon, the temperatures are bitter, and the COVID-19 health crisis is worsening and increasingly limiting leisure and social activities?
It’s been a tough year. And on top of whatever hardships you ve been dealt, you may now be facing the reality that some of the usual wintertime activities you do (holiday gatherings, winter getaways, dinners with friends, indoor sports, and just about anything indoors) are going to be much more difficult or canceled, thanks to the pandemic.
Mollusks are the most plastic-filled seafood in the world
Bad news for sushi.
New research found that marine mollusks such as mussels, oysters, and scallops, contain the highest levels of microplastic contamination of all seafood.
Image credits Pixabay.
The team, led by members from the Hull York Medical School and the University of Hull has analyzed over 50 studies on the topic of microplastic contamination in seafood. These were published between 2014 and 2020 and worked with species ranging from fish to shellfish all around the world.
Food with a little extras
“A critical step in understanding the full impact on human consumption [of plastics] is in first fully establishing what levels of microplastics [MPs] humans are ingesting,” says Evangelos Danopoulos, a postgraduate student at Hull York Medical School and co-author of the paper. “We can start to do this by looking at how much seafood and fish is eaten and measuring the number of MPs in these creatures.”